NBA commissioner Adam Silver spoke to reporters Wednesday after it was announced Suns and Mercury owner Robert Sarver will be suspended one year following a league investigation into workplace misconduct. He will also face a $10 million fine.
“I was in disbelief to a certain extent about what I learned that had transpired over the last 18 years in the Suns organization,” Silver said.
The investigation found that Sarver said the n-word at least five times during his 18-year ownership tenure in Phoenix. Per the NBA investigation, Sarver consistently acted inappropriately toward employees, including numerous “sex-related comments toward female employees.” Sarver also made “inappropriate comments about the physical appearance” of both women who worked for the team and elsewhere, and he also reportedly engaged in “inappropriate physical conduct toward male employees.”
